The original plan for today included an ~11 m drive to get closure to a fracture in the Stimson formation. However, during science discussion, the team talked further about how to best sample both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock, and realized that some of the best places to accomplish the proposed sampling were likely behind us! As a result of this discussion, the drive in today’s plan was pulled at the last minute.

So the modified plan for Sol 1312 includes several ChemCam and Mastcam observations to assess the composition of both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock, and Mastcam imaging to document the fractures that run through the outcrop. We won’t drive, but we’ll still take images to set us up for contact science and remote sensing in the weekend plan. Talk about late-breaking science!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Today I was on duty as KOP again, but we got to sleep in: we
started at 7 am instead of 6:30!

Curiosity is in good shape and our drive was successful. In
the Sol 1311 plan, we have ChemCam observations of the targets "Garnet Koppie",
"Amspoort", "Soutrivier", and "Uubvley". Garnet Koppie and Amspoort will allow
us to compare the composition of a bright fracture halo and the nearby bedrock,
Soutrivier is targeting a small white vein, and Uubvley is a fin of material
sticking up near a large fracture. ChemCam also has a long distance RMI
observation of the Peace Vallis channel off to the north. We talked a lot about
possible places to image with Mastcam, but decided that we will have a better
view of everything of interest after another drive or two, so Mastcam just has
documentation images of the ChemCam targets.

After the targeted observations, we have a short drive to
put the rover in a better position to see the terrain in front of it. This will
allow us to drive into the area with large fractures visible from orbit, which
we have started informally calling "Fracture Town" but which will probably get
a more official name soon.

The plan finished with some early morning atmospheric
observations on Sol 1312, including a ChemCam passive sky observation, Mastcam
observation of the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and Navcam movies to watch
for clouds. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status

Well, that was an early morning! I was on duty as the KOP today
and we started at 6:30 am, so I was up and looking at new pictures of Mars
before sunrise. Normally I would not be happy about getting up so early, but I reminded
myself this morning that getting to help run a nuclear-powered laser-wielding
robot on Mars is worth losing a little bit of sleep every once in a while!

Our drive finally went according to plan, bringing us a bit
closer to the edge of the Naukluft plateau. We plan to continue driving today and tomorrow, aiming to get within reach of some interesting
large fractures that we can see in the orbital data to do contact science over
the weekend. There are also some tantalizing outcrops coming up that should
give us nice views of the stratigraphy of the Stimson unit, but they are not
quite visible yet.

We are only expecting to get a small amount of data
downlinked before tomorrow, so we kept today’s plan for Sol 1310 nice and
simple. In the morning, we have a ChemCam observation and Mastcam documentation
of a nearby alteration halo around a fracture, followed by a small Mastcam
mosaic of a similar bright halo and fracture at a location we are calling "Oswater".
After that, Curiosity will drive for about 20 meters and we will collect our
standard post drive imaging. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status

We just can’t catch a break lately! Curiosity is healthy but
unfortunately the plan for the weekend was not transmitted to Mars due to a
Deep Space Network outage. That means that the contact science that was planned
for the weekend is lost, but the team decided that it was not important enough
for us to delay driving. Today’s plan attempts to at least recover the remote
sensing observations before we move on.

The Sol 1309 plan starts off with a continuation of the
previous mosaic of the target "Rasthof" plus a multispectral observation of the
target "Ruacana". ChemCam then has a long distance RMI mosaic of some mesas to
the west of the Peace Vallis fan, followed by an analysis of some dark cap rock
at the target "Kapako". Mastcam will document Kapako and finish up with a small
mosaic of some interesting textures in a nearby part of the outcrop. After
that, we have a short drive followed by standard post-drive imaging. In the
afternoon, Mastcam and Navcam have several atmospheric observations and MARDI
has an image of the terrain beneath the rover. Finally, in the early morning of
Sol 1310 Mastcam has a mosaic of Mt. Sharp. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status

On Sol 1305, the rover straightened its wheels in preparation for a
drive, but then the fault that prevented driving earlier this week
occurred again, and the vehicle did not move. The engineers are
preparing to send parameter changes that will eliminate mobility
actuator sensitivity to the transient power spikes.



Fortunately, there are some rocks in front of the rover that are suitable for contact science, so the arm will be deployed on
Sol 1307. But first, ChemCam and Mastcam will examine a bedrock target
named "Divundu" and rock target "Kapako," and Mastcam will acquire a
full multispectral set of images of a distant bright ridge called
"Ruacana." Later that sol, MAHLI will take a couple images of Divundu
before the DRT brushes dust off of the target. MAHLI will then acquire a
full suite of images of the brushed spot and smaller sets of images of a
rock named "Gaio" and a bedrock target called "Lucira." The APXS will be placed on Gaio for a couple of evening integrations, then on Divundu for a long overnight integration.



Early on the morning of Sol 1308, the Right Mastcam will acquire a
mosaic of the north side of Aeolis Mons ("Mt. Sharp"). Later that
morning, Navcam will search for clouds and dust devils, and Mastcam will
image the crater rim to determine how much dust is in the air within
Gale crater. In the afternoon, the arm will be stowed before Mastcam
acquires a multispectral observation of the Divundu brush spot before
the rover attempts to drive again. After taking the usual post-drive
images, the rover will go to sleep and recharge its batteries in
preparation for Monday's activities. Only 2 sols are being planned today, to get the tactical schedule back in sync with "Mars time."



by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Once again, the Sol 1303 drive stopped during wheel steering, apparently
due to another short in the RTG. While the power and mobility
engineers investigate the fault and ways to respond to them, another
drive will be attempted on Sol 1305. The remote science observations
made on Sol 1303 went well, so only one ChemCam/Mastcam observation is
planned before the Sol 1305 drive, of a rock with interesting surface
texture dubbed "Katwitwi." Early on Sol 1306, Navcam, Mastcam and ChemCam will
look for clouds and dust devils, and measure the amount of dust and
various gasses in the atmosphere. Later that sol, Mastcam will observe
the Sun again and Navcam will acquire a panorama of the rover deck to
look for changes in the distribution of dust and debris. Overnight, CheMin will analyze and empty sample cell to improve instrument calibration.



by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

The Sol 1301 drive halted after only 4.5 meters of progress, apparently
due to a short in the RTG that caused a steering actuator fault. This
type of fault has occurred before, so we are planning a drive toward the
northwest on Sol 1303. Before the drive, lots of remote sensing science is
planned, starting with a Right Mastcam mosaic of an outcrop toward the
southwest dubbed "Rasthof." Then ChemCam and Mastcam will observe
bedrock targets "Tsondab," "Omingonde," and "Marble Koppie," and Mastcam
will observe the Sun and the distant crater rim to measure the amount
of dust in the atmosphere. After the drive and the usual post-drive
observations, on Sol 1304 ChemCam will shoot its laser at its titanium
calibration target and Navcam will search for clouds again.



by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Everything went well in Wednesday’s plan, and we are near
the edge of the Naukluft plateau, driving across "Stimson" bedrock. The weekend
plan begins on Sol 1300 with three ChemCam observations of the bedrock target "Bero"
and fracture targets "Iona", "and "Arco" along with Mastcam documentation. This
is followed up by some MAHLI and Mastcam images of Bero before and after
brushing off the dust. MAHLI also has some images of Gudaus and APXS will
measure the composition of Gudaus and Bero.

In the early morning on Sol 1301, Mastcam has 4 mosaics of various
portions of the Stimson unit. These include areas with fractures and nodules,
as well as some interesting layers in a nearby outcrop. After that, the plan is
to drive about 50 meters and collect our standard post-drive images.

On Sol 1302, Navcam and Mastcam have a bunch of atmospheric
observations, and ChemCam has a long-distance observation of Peace Vallis, the
large valley carved into the northern rim of the crater. Mastcam will then
round out the day with a large 360 degree panorama from our end-of-drive
location.

Next week we are having a team meeting out in Pasadena, so
there will probably be a hiatus in our blogging. by Ryan Anderson -Ryan is a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the ChemCam team on MSL. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the martian environment, communication relays and rover status

The Sol 1296 drive was halted after only 4 meters of progress because
the suspension on the left side of the rover was more tilted than
expected. Suspension checks are routinely included in drive sequences,
to keep the vehicle safe, and MSL is indeed safe. So the Sol 1298 plan
includes a drive to the same location as previously planned. We were
also able to squeeze in some pre-drive remote science: ChemCam and Mastcam will observe rock targets named "Blaubock 2"
and " Chapeu Armado ." Sol 1299 observations are untargeted because they
will occur after the drive, and include Mastcam, ChemCam, and Navcam
measurements of the sun and sky.



I was MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again today, with only the usual MARDI
twilight image to plan. But if the rover ends up in a good location for
contact science, we'll be able to plan MAHLI close-up images this
weekend.



by Ken Herkenhoff
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

MSL drove about 17 meters on Sol 1294, continuing over rough terrain. Some of the images that have been recently received show delicate
features that have apparently been formed by windblown sand abrasion. The path ahead is over more rough terrain , but it looks like we will be able to drive ~50 meters on Sol 1296. Before driving, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets
"Bloedkoppie," "Blaubeker" and "Blaubock," and Mastcam will acquire
mosaics of ridges and outcrops of the Stimson sandstone. Planning is
restricted, so we are planning untargeted remote sensing observations on
Sol 1297: The RMI will acquire a mosaic of a distant target toward the
northwest, Mastcam will measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere by
imaging the Sun, and Navcam will search for dust devils. Finally, early on Sol 1298, the Left Mastcam will acquire another mosaic of the Stimson sandstone on the Naukluft Plateau.



by Ken Herkenhoff Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.